Tool-operating device.



F. C. SHELTON. TOOL OPERATING DEVICE. APPLIUATION FILED 211.113, 1914.

1, 1 1 6, 1 37. Patented Nov. 3, 1914.

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FORREST C. SHELTON, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUMBIA.

TOOL-OPERATING DEVICE.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 3, 1914.

Application led April 18, 1914. Serial N o.I 832,733.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, FoRRns'r C. SImL'roN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lool-Operating Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to operatingdevices of hand tools, such as screw-drivers, drill-bits, etc., and the device provided by the invention is so arranged that its handle may be swung' to, and held in, straight and angular positions with respect tothe shank or the like of the tool to be turned, so that the handle, in addition to being susceptible of receiving rotary movement to turn the tool, may also be used as a lever when swung from straight position whereby the device can be employed in places where it is inconvenient or impracticable for the hand to manipulate the handle when in straight position. A device of this character, when its handle is out of a straight line with re spect to the shank or other part to be turned, usually demands that a ratchet mechanism be associated therewith, in order that the lever may be swung back and forth to give to the shank a rotary movement in a single direction, and it also is of advantage to have a ratchet mechanism when the handle is straight with respect to the shank.

It :is an object of the invention to embody a ratchet mechanism within that `part that i is formed to permit the handle to be swung to and held in various positions of angularity with respect tothe shank, whereby a comparatively small and compact article is provided and whereby there is avoided the necessity of enlarging the device by placing the ratchet mechanism elsewhere therein.

Vhen read in connection with the description herein, the details of construction and arrangement of parts contemplated by the invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawing, forming part hereof, wherein an embodiment of the invention is disclosed, for purposes of illustration.

While the disclosures herein now are considered to exemplify a preferable embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the merely are illustrative of the principles tiereof, that the several instrumentalities employed in carrying out the invention variously can be formed and organized within the scope of the claims without necessarily departing from the nature and spirit of the invention, and that it is not the intention to be limited necessarily to the precise delineations herein in interpretation of the claims.

Like reference characters refer to corresponding parts in the views of the drawing, of which- Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view; Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view, on the line 2--2 and looking in direction of the arrows, Fig. l; Figli is a view showing positionof parts when the handle is out of alinement with the shank; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the core; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the member for moving the pawls, the pawls being shown in association therewith; Fig. G is a sectional View of the ring for moving the pawl-moving inember; and Fig@ is a top View of a pawl.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, 8 `designates the handle portion of the device. At one end (normally the lower) of the handle there is a part 9, of approximately hemispherical shape and ordinarily larger than the handle, and having therein a circular socket or recess. The axis of the socket is disposed at an inclination with respect to the axis of the handle, and preferably at an angle of forty-five degrees, and the wall of the part 9 surrounding the socket terminates, or has its edge or rim disposed, in a plane to which the axis of the socket is perpendicular, as indicated by the line awa, Figs. 1 and 3. A lower hollow casing member 1 0, havinga circular rim or edge of the same size as, and arranged to abut and turn with respect to, the rim or edge of part 9, is held in such abutting position by means later described.

A core 11 is disposed partially in the socket of part 9, and it exteriorly is so shaped to the extent it is taken by the socket that it is capable of fitting snugly therein and of rotary movement with respect to the part 9. The core is held in the socket by a screw or similar member 12 rotatable in the wall of part 9' and secured to the core in its turning axis. The part l0 envelope that portion of the core not taken by part 9, and it is held to the core with its rim in abutment with that of' part 9 by any suitable means, such as a screw 13.

The core contains a substantially cylindrical chamber or socket open at its normal e Se lower end and having its axis at substantially the same angle to the axis oi rotation oi the core as said axis of the core is to the longitudinal axis of the handle, and the parts are so arranged and proportioned that the axis of the handle may at times be coincident with that of the corechamber and that the handle may be turned on the core with the memberI 12 as the pivot to difyferent angular positions with respect to the axis of the core, whereby the handle may be given a turning or rotary movement when alined with the core-axis or used as a lever when at an angle thereto to turn the core and parts contained therein. In order to prevent rotary movement of the core in the socket of part 9, the core has on its exterior periphery an annular series of indentations or notches 1i, any of which is engageable with the end of a pawl 15 extending through the wall of part 9 and normally kept in engagement with a notch by a spring 16. |The annular disposition of the series of indentations or notches 1st is indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 4.

The core l1 has at the upper or closed end of its chamber a centrally-positioned seat 17, in which is disposed the upper end of a shank 18 extending into the core and held therein at an inclination to the axis of rotation of the core in the socket, the shank being exemplary oi a part of any turning-tool, such as a screw-driver, or of a part to which a tool-holding chuck or the like may be secured. Between the upper and lower ends of the core-chamber there is fast on the shank a circular rack 19 formed with teeth on its upper and lower sides so arranged that those of one side face in one direction and those of the other side face in the opposite direction. An upper circular pawl 2O and a lower circular pawl 2l, both loose on the shank, are susceptible of being moved into clutching engagement with the rack,

one to turn the rack and shank in one direction and the other to turn them in the other direction. Longitudinally-disposed grooves or guideways 22 in the core open to the chamber thereof, and laterally-extending lugs 28 of the pawls project into and are movable longitudinally oit' these guideways, so that one or the other, or both, of the pawls, when in engagement with the rack, will rotate the shank when the core is rotated. A spring 24, between the upper wall of the core-chamber and the upper pawl 20, has a tendency to move that pawl into engagement with the rack; and a' spring 25, between the lower wall of part lO and the lower pawl 21, has a tendency similarly to move that pawl.

ln order to move the pawls, one at a time, from engagement with the rack, and to permit both of them to engage the rack individually or simultaneously as desired, a cage inlener 26, substantially cylindrical in outline, is positioned in the core-chamber with parts outside of the pawls and rack and the lower spring 25. The member 26 comprises a band or ring 27, which surrounds the rack and is disposed between the lugs 23 of the pawls and in, or about in, contact with those lugs when both pawls are in engagement with the rack. The material ofy the cage at opposite places extends upwardly from the band, as projections 28, each between two of 'the lugs of the upper pawl and iniairly close lateral contact with them; and extensions 29 likewise depend from the band between lugs of the lower pawl. rllhese extensions, by their lateral contact with the lugs, prevent rotary movement of the cage. The lower portieri of the core-chamber is en lai-ged to provide a seat 30 (see Fig. 4) to accommodate a ring 31, which lies outside of the lower portions of the lower extensions 29 of the cage, and which is held against up-and-down movement by the top oi' the seat and the bottom of part 10. At diametrically-opposite places, corresponding to the positions of the lower extensions of the cage, a groove 32 for each extension is formed inside of the ring.

Each groove comprises a portion near one edge of the ring at substantially right angles to the line of movement of 'the cage, an inclined portion continuing therefrom to an intermediate portion that is at substantially right angles to the line of movement of the cage, and an inclined portion continuing therefrom to a portion near the other edge of the ring at substantially right angles to the line of movement of the cage.

Each lower extension of the cage has thereon a pin 33 or other projection extending into one oi grooves 32, and the parts are so relatively proportioned and arranged that, when pins are in the intermediate portions of the grooves, both pawls are permitted to engage the rack. For the purpose of turning the ring, a lever 3i extends outwardlythererom through a slot 35 in the part 10. Villen the ring is turned yin the direction to cause the pins to move from intermediate positions upwardly in the inclined or cam portions of the grooves, the cage will be moved` upwardly, the upper pawl thereby will be moved from engage'- ment with the rack through the instrumentality of the cage-band in contact with the lugs of that pawl, the pawl will be held in disengaged position when the pins reach the upper annular portions of the ring-grooves,

and the other pawl will be left in engagement with the rack and in turning coperation therewith. When the ring isV turned in the opposite direction, the parts will have returned to intermediate position under the influence of the upper spring 2st by the time the pins 33 reach the intermediate portions of the grooves; and, if turning movement in that direction is continued or at any time commenced from intermediate position, the lower pawl will be drawn from engagement with, the rack in a manner similar to the upper pawl, and it may similarly be returned to clutching position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A tool-operating device, comprising a handle having therein a circular socket having its axis at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the handle, a member rotatable in said socket and arranged to hold an operating-shank at an inclination to the axis of the socket, and means whereby rotation of said member in said socket is prevented.

2. A tool-operating device, comprising a handle having therein a circular socket having its axis at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the handle, a member rotatable in said socket and partially enveloped by the wall thereof and arranged to hold a shank at an inclination to the axis of the socket, and a casing fast on said member and enveloping that part thereof outside of said socket.

3. A tool-operating device, comprising a handle having therein a circular socket having its axis at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the handle and said socket being surrounded by a circular wall having its edge in a plane substantially at right angles to the socket-axis, a member rotatable in said socket and partially enveloped by the wall thereof and arranged to hold a shank at an inclination to the axis of the socket, and a circular casing fast on said member and having `an edge abutting the edge of said socket-wall.

et. A tool-operating device, comprising `a handle having therein a circular socket having its axis at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the handle, a core rotatable in said socket and having a shank-receiving socket having its axis at an inclination to the axis of the socket of the handle, and means whereby rotation of said core in the socket of the handle is prevented.

5. A `tool-operating device, comprising a handle having therein a circular socket having its axis at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the handle, a member rotatable in said socket and arranged to hold an operating-shank at substantially the same angle to the axis of rotation of said member as said axis of said member is to the longitudinal axis of said handle, and means whereby rotation of said member in said socket is prevented.

G. A tool-operating device, comprising a handle having therein a circular socket having its axis at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the handle, a core rotatable in said socket and having a shank-receiving socket having its axis at sliibstantially the same angle to the axis ot rotation of the core as said axis of the core is to the longitudinal axis oit' the handle, and means whereby rotation of said core in said handle-socket is prevented.

7. A tool-operating device, comprisinga handle having therein a circular socket having its axis at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the handle, a core rotatable in said socket and having a chamber, an operating-shank rotatably mounted in said chamber at an inclination to the axis of said socket, and means in said chamber whereby rotary movement is imparted to said shank by said core.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence el two witnesses.

FORREST C. SHELTON.

Witnesses z ANDREW B. TRUDGIAN, PEARL V. PHiLrrr'r.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

